China to Host Next Afghan-Taliban Talks

More than a dozen Taliban militants have been killed as a clash for the control of the strategically important Tirgaran valley in Wardoj district of Badakhshan province has been going for the past two days, a local official said Saturday.

The Taliban are intensifying their countrywide summer offensive launched in late April, despite repeated government attempts to restart peace negotiations.

The meeting, to be held in Urumqi in China’s northeastern Xinjiang province, would be the second such encounter between the two parties.

He said the government side would press the issue in the next talks, tentatively set for July 30 in China.

Hopes for a fruitful outcome to the talks increased after Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar gave them his tacit approval in a statement earlier this month.

Nateqi said Taliban negotiators this time will also include representatives from its top leadership, known as the Quetta Shura, and its political office based in Qatari city of Doha.

“The military operation started in Almar district on Friday morning to clear the area from insurgents’ threats, and is still ongoing”, said Abdul Sattar Barez, the deputy provincial governor.

Al Jazeera’s Jennifer Glasse reporting from the Afghan capital, Kabul, said: “The apparent target of this suicide attack was Afghan security forces, but we understand the hospital is full of injured civilians”.

Bader said, “At least 21 rebels, mostly foreigners, were killed and 13 others sustained injuries during the two days of fierce fighting with the Afghan security forces”.